The Six Owls
by Naruto-junky
Summary: The Harry Potter version of the Six Swans fairytale. HarryXGinny


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the story The Six Swans. I am merely taking a public domain story and turning it into a Harry Potter story. **

The Six Owls

Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Hogwarts, there was a king who loved to hunt. It was his greatest passion. King James would chase the game so fiercely and eagerly that his hunting partners, Sirius and Remus, would lose him soon after the hunt started.

This day they had began their hunt in the Forbidden Forest. King James would not heed his friends warnings of the magical nature of the forest, so they had no choice but to go with him, lest he get lost or injured. When they entered the forest, James spotted what appeared to be a wild pig. It was unlike any he had seen before. It's legs appeared too long for an ordinary pig, and it's tail was thick and stubby. It was unlike any other wild pig that the king had hunted, which made him want it all the more.

At once he gave chase to the creature, which was surprisingly fast. This riled the man even more, so that even when he had left his companions in the dust and night had started to close in on him, he would not let the animal get away.

At last, night closed in. The small creature with beady black eyes escaped the determined king in the pitch black. James turned his horse around so that he could make his way back out of the forest on to find that he recognized nothing. He despaired at the thought of being stuck in the forest over night.

There was a rustling in the bushes to the left and drew his sword in preparation at whatever may be coming. Out of the bushes, came an old woman. She was tall with thick dark hair. Though she may have once been a very beautiful woman, that was no longer the case. The woman appeared harmless despite the fact that she was walking around in the Forbidden Forest by herself that night.

"Excuse me, Madam. Might you know the way out of this forest?" the King asked.

The woman peered up at the young king astride the horse. He was tall and handsome. He would be perfect for her daughter. The witch smiled wickedly.

"Certainly, Your Highness. I've lived in this forest my entire life. But for me to tell you I have one condition. Know that if you refuse, you will stay lost and die of hunger and cold in this wood."

Knowing what the woman said was true, he asked what the condition to knowing the way out was.

"Long have I lived in the this wood with my daughter, who's beauty has no compare in this world. But she is ill fitted for life in the forest. If you will take her as your wife and queen, I will show you the way out of the forest."

This condition distressed the King greatly, but he had to return to the kingdom. Knowing this, he consented to the witch's condition. He didn't have any other choice.

The woman took the reins of his horse and began to lead the horse to her cottage in the glen. She bade him to wait outside while she fetched her daughter.

"Get up child! The day has come. Your to be Queen!" Her mother was practically cackling. Though her daughter, Narcissa, had her mother's features, she was entirely her father's daughter with crystalline blue eyes and pale blonde hair.

As Narcissa readied herself for the journey, her mother brought her a small pouch made of Tebo leather with drawstrings made of Demiguise hair. It gave the appearance of being too small to hold much of anything. But as she opened it to peer inside it seemed to be large enough to carry anything you might ever imagine to. Having her daughter hold it open Dame LeStrange explained the items she was adding.

"Should you never need to consult me, here is a mirror to call upon me with. And should you ever need to weave an enchantment, here is a wand." And with that she led her daughter to the King.

James saw that the woman had spoke true, her daughter was very beautiful, but she held no appeal for him. He knew that unless he took the maiden as his bride he would never make it out of the forest, so he lifted the girl onto the horse in front of him. Smiling with unrepressed glee, Bellatrix moved to the reins of the horse and preceded to lead the King and his bride out of the forest.

Ooo

King James had been married once before to a lovely shepherd's daughter. Though Lily had not been a princess, she had been the most lovely and kind woman that he had ever met and she had been a well loved queen. Before she had died of Dragon Pox, she had borne him seven children: six strapping boys and a beautiful little girl.

He had almost reached the castle with his new bride when an awful thought occurred to him. What if his new wife wished harm to his lovely children? So, when the two of them reached the castle and the celebration had begun, James had Sirius and Remus spirit Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, Ron, and Ginny to a lonely castle in Godric's Hollow. The castle was unplottable and so no one was able to find it. The king would have been unable to find it as well, had his Aunt Minerva not given him a reel of thread that would unwind before him and show him the way to the castle.

Several months had passed and Narcissa was getting very suspicious and jealous of whatever was stealing her husband away for hours at a time. Determined to retake the king's attention, Narcissa paid Peter, the servant who attended to him, to tell her where he went for so long. He told her of the children, the castle in the hollow, and of the magic reel that led the king to them.

She did not rest until she found where he had hidden the reel of thread, and in the meantime she contacted her mother with the mirror. Her mother told her to await a messenger from the woods who would be bearing a large satchel containing the hair of a yeti. Once it had arrived she was to have the servants fetch hair from the rooms the children had occupied until Narcissa had come. Then she need to spin the yeti's wool with strands of each child's hair. Afterwards she would weave them into shirts. This would turn the children into owls.

But the new queen didn't know about the young Princess, she was only making shirts for the princes whose hairs she had been brought. It took several weeks but soon she had the six shirts she needed.

Waiting until James went on another hunting trip with Sirius and Remus, Narcissa stole into the King's Study and took the reel of thread from his desk. Finally, after many hours of walking she reached the stone path that led up to the castle. The children saw the cloaked figure coming up the walk and rushed to meet them. As soon as they were within distance she tossed the shirts up into the air and waved her wand, spelling the shirts onto the children. The boys turned into snowy owls and flew off into the woods. Thinking her work was done, the queen started back towards the castle.

The Princess watched from a tower window as the woman spelled the shirts onto her brothers and they flew away. Ginny knew from her father's stories that this was his new wife, Narcissa, that he had married so that he could get out of the forest.

She waited at the window long into the night and well into the next morning before her father reached the castle. Ginny rushed outside to meet him.

"Father! Something terrible has happened to my brothers!" she cried as she threw herself upon him.

"What happened, little one?" he asked as he hugged her close to him

The Princess explained to him what she had seen from the tower window. At once the King knew that his daughter spoke the truth: his wife had tried to rid herself of her stepchildren. It was as he had feared when he had brought her back with him.

He bid his daughter come back with him to the castle. Soon they were off, making their way quickly through the woods. Once they had arrived at their destination, the guards were ordered to seize the Queen. They cornered her in the stables, attempting to saddle a horse to escape on.

Narcissa's chambers were searched and her wand and mirror were found. Both were tossed into the fire. After her possessions had been gathered, they were set in a carriage and the woman on a horse and both were led to the castle in Godric's Hollow. There she was left to live out the rest of her days in entire solitude.

Now the King was terrified of losing his only daughter, and as such ordered that she never leave the castle or the sight of her guards for as long as she lived. This irked the Princess. One night she decided that she would go out into the world and seek her brothers, owls though they were.

The next night she grabbed the rucksack from her wardrobe and secreted herself out of the castle and into the surrounding countryside. She raced along the river leading away from town for many days and nights, before at last she came to a small cottage along the river bank. She entered to find six beds and a long eating table in the main room.

Ginny didn't want to sleep in one of the beds lest one owners should return while she was vulnerable. In the corner was a ladder that led up to the loft above. She climbed up and found that it was filled with soft hay. Relived that she would be able to sleep inside for the night.

The Princess slept until the sun set. She was woken by the sound of flapping wings and looked up to see herself surrounded by snowy owls. Downstairs the clock chimed and suddenly, instead of six snowy owls, her brothers were sitting around her.

"Ginny!" they chorused together. Her brothers fell upon her with kisses and hugs.

"You can't stay here, Gin. Deatheaters live in this house!" Bill exclaimed looking around with a slight look of fear on his face.

"But you can protect me right, Bill?" The idea that her brothers were afraid and possibly unable to protect her as they always had was preposterous to her.

"We are only human for a quarter of an hour once a night," Percy informed her quietly.

"How can you be freed?" Ginny asked with tears in her eyes.

"It's a very hard task, sister," stated Fred.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" finished George. Their sister nodded her head determinedly. She was going to free her brothers one way or another.

"You must not speak or laugh for an entire six years. You must also make each of us a shirt from star-flowers. If you speak, it will all be in vain."

Charlie had just finished telling her what she had to do when the quarter of an hour was up and they all turned back into snowy owls.

After watching her brothers wing off into the night, Ginny crept out of the loft and took off into the forest. She walked half of the night before she came to a meadow filled with the flowers she was looking for. She looked around carefully before lifting her outer dress over her head, leaving her in a thin slip.

She settled down amongst the flowers, carefully picking thread from the dress. After she had a sizeable amount she plucked as many flowers she could carry in the ruins of her skirt. Once these tasked had been accomplished, Ginny searched about for a place where she could sit and work.

A little ways from the calm meadow of star-flowers, there was a small cave nearly thirty feet off the ground. It would be hard to get up there, the climb was steep and rocky, but Ginny was extremely determined.

The next morning, she woke with the dawn and began sewing with the needle she had nicked from the house of the Deatheaters. She worked that day and all through the next. It wasn't until she went to retrieve more flowers that she saw the hoof prints and boot impressions all across the meadow. Almost all of the flowers were crushed.

Ginny rushed back to the cave. She thought that perhaps, the Deatheaters had noticed that someone was in their house and they were looking for her.

She waited at the entrance of the cave, to see if they would come for her.

At noon, the men finally came. They stood at the base of the cliff, calling up to her, asking her to come down. She shook her head. When they wouldn't leave her alone, she tossed down the gold necklace that she had taken with her should she need the money. But they wouldn't let up.

Next, Ginny tossed down the gems that she had picked off of her dress. Then her, shiny leather shoes. By the end of the hour, she had thrown them everything that she had of value. Eventually, the men climbed up to get her. Before they could carry her down she snatched the shirt she had been working on.

One of the men put her on a horse and led her to his master. It turned out that the men had not been Deatheaters at all. They had been servants of a King.

King Harry stood before her and asked her what her name was in every language he knew. He had advisors, Hermione and Neville, ask her the same in any that he had missed. No matter what they said, Ginny refused to utter a word.

To Harry it didn't matter that she was apparently unable to speak. She was lovely and seemed very kind. He helped her up onto his horse and took her back to the castle. Once there, she was decked out in the richest finery and was even more radiant than before. It was then and there that the King decided that this was the girl he was going to marry.

Not long after Harry came to this decision, they were married in a lavish ceremony. Though Ginny was thrilled to be marrying such a kind man, she wished her family could be there with her. When it came to her vows she just smiled and nodded.

The new couple were very happy together. But the King had an atrocious aunt. She didn't think that the girl was good enough to be queen. She wasn't royalty. She brought nothing to the marriage. No one knew where she was from. The girl didn't even speak!

Ooo

A year passed pleasantly. Ginny was quite happy at the castle, where she was allowed long interrupted hours sewing the star-flower shirts in the garden or in her husband's study as he worked quietly alongside her.

On the 27th of March, Ginny gave birthday to the couple's first child: James Sirius. He was a beautiful baby boy with his father's hair and his mother's eyes. Ginny doted on her son, but never quit working on the shirts.

Harry's aunt Petunia saw this as a perfect opportunity to not only get rid of the girl, but also the future heir to the thrown. If the child and the mother were gone, then her son Dudley's children would succeed the title. She slipped into the child's nursery and pulled him from his crib. Soon she was out of the castle and on a horse. A long ride later, Petunia stopped a remote cottage on the outskirts of a prosperous village.

She rapped on the door sharply. A young woman opened the door.

"Hello?"

"Are you Molly?"

"Yes, are you Petunia? The constable said to expect you tonight. Oh, is that the little orphan?" Molly reached out gently and pulled the babe from the other woman's arms. When the constable of Hogsmeade, Lucius Malfoy, came and said an orphan from the castle need a temporary home until he could come back and work in the castle, Molly jumped on the chance. She had always wanted a large family.

Petunia slipped away quietly and rode off into the forest again. Molly paid her no mind as she closed the door and carried the baby into the other room to show her husband.

Ooo

The next morning, a scream rang out from the nursery. When Harry and Ginny made it to the room they found Petunia standing over a knocked over cradle and what appeared to be a small pool of blood on the floor.

The woman turned around and pointed at Ginny. "You killed him!" she screamed at her.

Many people thought that Ginny had done something to her child, but the King could not believe that his kind, gentle wife had murdered their first child. Though Ginny was greatly distressed at the kidnapping of her first born she continued to work on her shirts.

Years passed, and Ginny had another little boy. They named him Albus Severus after two great kings. He was ten months old when Petunia took the child to Molly, claiming that he was another orphan. Once again Ginny was blamed for her son's disappearance. But yet again Harry refused to believe his wife capable of such a heinous act. Ginny finished her fifth shirt.

When Albus Severus was taken, Ginny had been pregnant with another child. She was born on the 29th of October. Before the night was over Petunia took the little girl to Molly.

This time King Harry couldn't ignore the accusations. Three children had vanished from the nursery in the family quarters of the Royal Family. And when the children were found missing, his wife just continued to make those odd star flower shirts.

There wasn't anything else he could do. He handed her over to the nearest constable, Lucius Malfoy. For her crimes, Ginny was to burn at the stake.

The morning of the 31st dawned clear and bright. Everyone had thought it odd that Ginny hadn't seemed the least bit concerned that after six years of marriage, her husband was allowing her be killed. But she had only adopted a serene countenance and draped the six finished shirts over her arm as she was led to her pyre.

Ginny had only just started up the steps when the owls landed on the platform in front of her. It was such an odd sight that no one stopped her as she stooped and put the shirts over the owls' heads. There was a burst of light and in the place of six owls were six tall red headed men.

The boys surrounded the girl and hugged her close. Ginny pulled away and ran to her husband.

"Oh Harry!" she exclaimed, pulling him close and planting a kiss on her shocked husband's mouth. "It wasn't me! I swear it wasn't! I would never hurt our children!" And with that the whole story of his aunt's betrayal tumbled from her lips.

Harry turned and drew the sword that hung from a scabard on his belt and pointed it at his aunt. At the point of Gryffindor's sword she led them to the three children. Molly was distraught when she realized that she had aided the woman in kidnapping the children. Seeing that she had a good heart, Harry and Ginny invited her to become the children's nanny.

With the children off to the castle with Molly and her husband, Petunia was led back to the stake and burned in Ginny's stead.

A letter was sent back to her father with Ron on the King's fastest horse, Hedwig.

Ginny and Harry lived happily ever after.

**THE END **

**A/N: Recently I've had a lot of trouble getting down a chapter that I could call good enough to post. So, in an effort to overcome my writer's block, I picked a public domain story that I really liked and rewrote and fleshed it out. And it's really helped. I hope you enjoy. **


End file.
